Blair’s Brain And Other Unfocused Things

8Feb/100

Status update: Extension Manager UI, Tab matches in Awesomebar

Extension Manager UI Redesign

Status

  • Planned for eventual mozilla-central landing - want to get initial parts landed before betas
  • Major AMO integration will probably be done as followups
  • Have been bringing UI up to speed with changes in mockups
  • Started looking at install/updates before realizing it's not in the API yet

Loose ends

  • Boriss was away for the latest meeting, need to catch up
  • Waiting on project branch to be setup (bug 542910)

Next steps

  • UX discussions! UX discussions! UX discussions!
  • Implement helper widgets
  • Install/uninstall/update/enable/disable
  • Search
  • Help with API development

Target for next week

  • Catch up with Boriss
  • Implement various widgets - download progress, ratings, etc
  • Start implementing search (only local, until the API supports AMO searching)

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • Refactored UI for better toolkit/browser separation
  • Renamed "open tab" concept to the more generic "open page"
  • Must remember that adding a constant doesn't mean the interface needs a change of UUID
  • Waiting on next review, then SR

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • Land
  • Tackle followup bugs

Target for next week

  • Landed on mozilla-central

Reflections

  • I need to get better at estimating time required for larger projects
  • I'm having far too much fun for this to be considered "work"
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla, Status Update No Comments
25Jan/103

Status update: Tab matches in Awesomebar, Extension Manager UI

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • "$" or "!" as the restrict character? Got i18n input: smontagu suggested "%" as a more common character on non-US keyboards
  • Discovered a (small) issue with having such a normalized DB schema
  • Unit tests (why do these take SO much time?!)
  • In process of final code review

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • Address reviewer's comments
  • Get SR review for API changes

Target for next week

  • Final reviews and (finally) landing

Extension Manager UI Redesign

Status

  • Meetings, plannings, and discussions, oh my!

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • Bring UI in line with newer mockups
  • Handle installing and updating

Target for next week

  • Extract mockups from Boriss's brain
  • Act on said mockups
  • Handle updates

Miscellaneous

Reflections

  • 5am start to a 13 hour day makes the next day really difficult.
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla, Status Update 3 Comments
22Jan/100

Firefox 3.6 is out!

Firefox 3.6

You may have heard: Firefox 3.6 is out. Its pretty awesome. I helped make it. That makes it extra special.

If you use Firefox, you should upgrade - its easy! And if you don't use Firefox, give it a try! Here's why:

Download it from firefox.com!

Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla No Comments
11Jan/101

Status update: Extension Manager UI, Tab matches in Awesomebar

Got back from my "holiday" late last week, after taking a 3-day roadtrip home. While away I mostly worked on the new Extension Manager UI, and am rather pleased with it all. Er, I relaxed and spent time with family too. Of course, almost everything else got ignored (including IRC). Back to the usual day-to-day awesomeness now.

Extension Manager UI Redesign

Status

  • Add-ons tree, list view, and detail view are all mostly implemented, hookup up the the new API, and look like the mockups
  • New API is really nice to use
  • Synced up with Mossop and Boriss (screensharing ftw!)
  • Sorted out a weekly meeting time (timezones are fun)

Loose ends

  • Need more data out of AMO's API - Mossop has talked to people, filed bugs, etc

Next steps

  • Installation and updates
  • Searching

Target for next week

  • Tackle searching
  • Tweaks after latest round of mockups

Tab matches in Awesomebar

No update. Expect things to move quickly this week.

Reflections

  • Taking a break from a project can result in a more objective view of past decisions.
  • Starting new projects is fun.
  • Mondays are EVIL.
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla, Status Update 1 Comment
21Dec/091

Status update: Tab matches in Awesomebar, Extension Manager UI

I'm in beautiful Motueka for two and a half weeks, staying with Anne's family; enjoying the scenery and generally relaxing. I'll be working while up here (working remotely remotely - very meta), but don't expect to see me on IRC as much as usual.

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • Fixed unit tests, and fixed code breaking unit tests
  • First code review done (epic job done by Marco) - very positive

Loose ends

  • Need an icon made (no rush for this)

Next steps

  • There's a unit test that fails on the Tryserver Tinderbox but not locally on my machine - need to figure that out
  • Fix reviewer's recommendations, rinse, repeat

Target for next week

  • Another round of reviews!

Extension Manager UI Redesign

Status

  • Re-read all (?) existing material, studied mockups, etc
  • Met with Mossop, who is designing and implementing the new API
  • Started building initial (dumb, non-interactive) prototype based on Boriss's mockups

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • Non-interactive prototype based on mockups
  • Start pulling info from new API, and provide Mossop with feedback from experience

Target for next week

  • At least one mockup looking the same in XUL

Miscellaneous

  • Bug 397937 (view-source on safebrowsing blocked pages) is ready to be landed (also fixes bug 435726)

Reflections

  • Being stuck on a slow 3G connection may prove to be actually good for my productivity
  • Hot weather is not good for my productivity (counteracting the above point)
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla, Status Update 1 Comment
14Dec/090

Status update

Sadly, I missed the the Mozilla Corp All-Hands last week in Mountain View, due to a nasty flu bug (bad timing, I know). But I hear it was pretty awesome - photos here. See everyone next time!

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • Various UI bugs fixed
  • Discussion on improving the UI further
  • Fixed bitrot from changes made in bug 527311 (that was a "fun" merge)
  • Made some toolkit code less specific to just tab-matches
  • Unit tests (and debugging existing tests - caught some weird behavior)

Loose ends

  • UI still not finalized. Might need to land on trunk and tweak UI in followup bugs (assuming review goes smoothly¹)

Next steps

  • UI adjustments
  • Finish tweaking matching code
  • Review

Target for next week

  • Make tab-matching dependent on autocompletesearchparam attribute (current it's a global pref)
  • Some small changes to matching behavior (some assumptions changed after seeing some tests fail)
  • More UI tweaking/experimentation
  • Code review (regardless of whether UI is finalized or not)

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed about:jetpack on trunk (bug 534384), awaiting review
  • Finally got a patch up for bug 397937 (view-source for safebrowsing blocked pages), awaiting review

Reflections

  • Missing an All-Hands due to sickness sucks.
  • My co-workers rock - they somehow manage to look out for me when I'm sick, even from the other side of the world. Thanks guys Smile
  • Teaching is the greatest way to learn
¹ That's not a completely unrealistic expectation, right? RIGHT?

Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla No Comments
30Nov/090

Status update

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • RTL issues looked into (with possible solution) - poses an interesting UI challenge
  • Fixed issue where session restored tabs weren't recorded as being open
  • Various other bugs fixed
  • Some tests written

Loose ends

  • Need UX eyes on the RTL problem

Next steps

  • Fix any remaining bugs
  • More tests
  • Go back over feedback
  • Code review

Target for next week

  • Fix rare issue with tag-matches showing "Switch to tab" instead of a list of tags
  • More unit tests
  • Initial code review, depending on feedback

Binding for untrusted text in security dialogs

No change.

Reflections

  • A failing test breaks any previous assumptions. Therefore it brings both the code and the test into question.
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla No Comments
21Nov/090

Status update

Was stubbornly fighting the flu for part of the week, so I didn't get as much done this week as I had hoped.

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

Loose ends

  • Waiting on feedback

Next steps

  • Unit tests
  • Respond to feedback

Target for next week

  • Unit tests

Binding for untrusted text in security dialogs

No change.

Miscellaneous

  • Helped with some lightweight theme bugs for 3.6

Reflections

  • Sometimes, there is no good solution. But there is a best solution.
Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla, Ubiquity No Comments
15Nov/092

Status update

Tab matches in Awesomebar

Status

  • Took an alternative (more complete, less hacky) approach to autocomplete integration, which took a lot longer. This way should allow easy ranking for tab-only matches.

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • Finish autocomplete work
  • Unit tests
  • Preferences UI

Target for next week

  • Finish autocomplete
  • Unit tests

Binding for untrusted text in security dialogs

Status

  • Initial planning
  • Identified potential issues with implementing in only JS

Loose ends

  • None

Next steps

  • More research - especially into unmatched surrogates in UTF-16

Target for next week

  • A better understanding of surrogates

Miscellaneous

  • 519486 resurrected itself in some (new) popular lightweight themes - looking at ways to further improve the solution.

    Reflections

    • A hack can save time now, cost time later, and still be worth it.
    • Beautiful code is not always useful code.
      Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla 2 Comments
      7Nov/090

      Status update

      Bit of a weird week - very busy, but not a lot of coding.

      Tab matches in Awesomebar

      Status

      • UI works better now
      • Initial work on proper integration into nsPlacesAutocomplete

      Loose ends

      • None

      Next steps

      • Finish autocomplete work
      • Preferences UI
      • More unit tests
      • More unit tests
      • More unit tests

      Target for next week

      • Finish autocomplete work + preferences UI

      Binding for untrusted text in security dialogs

      Status

      • No change

      Miscellaneous

      • Had my first day as a Sheriff on Tuesday - worked out pretty well
      • Also had my first security review on Tuesday, for the Plugin Update Awareness project  - that went pretty well too
      • New Windows box arrived on Wednesday - now running Windows 7 as my main OS
      • Working on moving all my development over to Windows

      Reflections

      • Having the right tools can make a difficult job into a trivial job
      • Pizza and coffee are always the right tools
      Filed under: Firefox, Mozilla No Comments
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